The impact of random gunfire on innocent bystanders was felt again today, when Bertha Arriaga, a mother of three boys, was shot and killed in her bedroom in Queens, New York.  The bullet passed through a window and struck her in the neck.  One of Arriaga’s sons found her bleeding on the floor. 

“He found her breathing, in the blood, on the floor,” said the boy’s uncle. “He ran to daddy and say, ‘Mommy is on the floor!’ Daddy tried to do CPR and she was breathing, eyes open, a lot of blood on her head.”

Although there are suspects who were caught on video camera outside the apartment building just before the shooting occurred, no one has yet been arrested.            

Several other innocent bystander killings have also been reported  in New York City since the pandemic began: “a 22-month-old boy shot in his stroller in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a 29-year-old man walking with his young daughter in Claremont, a 30-year-old man hanging out with friends in Harlem and a 54-year-old man walking his dog in Long Island City.”

Sources:

Kevin Sheehan and Natalie Musumesci, “Video Shows Men Wanted in Connection to Queens Mom Killed by Stray Bullet,” New York Post (September 30, 2020).

Ashley Southall, and Edgar Sandoval, “She Was Resting With Her Sons. Then a Shot Was Fired.” New York Times (October 1, 2020).